Looking around at the sleepy rural character of Jackson county today you’d be hard pressed to imagine a connection to one of true giants of American history but there is one. Born in Virginia in 1790 to slave named Sally Hemmings, Thomas Corbin Woodson seemed an unlikely candidate for success on the wild Ohio frontier. Nevertheless, depending on which oral history you believe, he either escaped from his owner or was quietly sent away to his freedom with a little money to seek his fortune and made his way to the still rugged Ohio frontier by the 1820’s. He bought some land in Milton township in Jackson county in 1829 and apparently was fortunate to discover large coal deposits on the land. He became a prosperous landowner and he and his wife, Jemima, had eleven children together. His children also prospered. One son, William, fathered 12 children, son Lawrence became a teacher at Randall Academy (a school for blacks) in nearby Berlin, and daughter Sarah Jane graduated from Oberlin College in 1856 and became the first African-American teacher at Wilberforce University and later was an activist and speaker for the National Women’s Christian Temperance Union. The connection to a founding father? Well, Woodson was not the surname of Thomas’s father. Thomas’s father is widely regarded as one of the most eloquent and thoughtful of the band of men who forged this country that has come down to us. He is credited with being the chief author of the document that declared our freedom from foreign domination to the world. I bet a nickel you know who he is!

To find this box, you’ll need to make your way to the Woodson Cemetery near the intersection of SR32 and SR327 south of Wellston. Take some time to stroll around and read some of the interesting old stones then, if you know the name of the plantation where Thomas was born, you can decipher the clues and find the box. As always, spacing is for ease of transcription only. Have fun!

SCGHB JIQWO SDBEM VEVPO NSNKQ PKZQH

TFRXP WROCS PHJXV VCOPU DSRLIP HRZTA

IETVF ESLZR DNVMU XZEVA ANLEQ SODCZ

GTKIX IESSZ UBMPT IPSIZ REXLV LTCHK

TBNZF IRCSQ GSHZU IGPBB OPXAV SESSO

FBLAG RNLGQ RVGII PLDGN ZBVSD CESSS

FNOMQ JXLUS WRFEK PDZBF VRGWP ILYRA

BRAIN JALQQ GNMBY SSFBP FRWMK KSEMP

STKMG WEZON IFATQ SVYSM FGAMD SEECY

When you find it, email us at bigguy9210@yahoo.com and let us know.

Before you set out, please read the
waiver of responsibility and disclaimer.
Please be sure to reseal baggies and boxes carefully so that they stay dry
and rehide boxes in their original location, completely hidden from view.